Welcome the Student Counselling Service

The Student Counselling Service offers free confidential short-term counselling to registered students of Warrington Collegiate.

The primary purpose of the Student Counselling Service is to enable students to become more effective in their lives. In general our role is not to provide information or advice but to help students speak about their difficulties; to make sense of what they are experiencing and to explore possible ways of moving forward.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Counselling is a talking and listening process that helps you to focus on, and understand, the concerns that are troubling you. It is a safe space for you to talk about issues and get a better understanding of them so you can move forward in a positive direction.

Counselling is always at the request of the student as no one can properly be 'sent' for it. Students are expected to book their own appointments and we do not accept bookings from others acting on the student’s behalf. This is designed to ensure that students are coming for counselling of their own free choice. Sometimes staff may recommend counselling to an individual or may help them with an appointment; however we will always try to establish at the onset that the student wishes to attend.

The first appointment with the Counsellor is an initial assessment session. This is a 50 minute one-to-one appointment where you can both assess together what your needs are and identify what sort of support might be helpful.

If Counselling does seem an appropriate way forward, a certain number of sessions are agreed; usually we offer up to six further appointments. You will be asked to sign the Counselling Contract and will have the chance to discuss any aspect of this. Arrangements can be made for further sessions when appropriate and when resources allow.

Counselling is confidential unless consent is given to share information. However, there are exceptional and rare circumstances beyond the boundaries of confidentiality. Where possible the counsellor will seek to discuss these prior to any disclosure or action.

These exceptional and rare circumstances are:

Where a client is at immediate risk of causing serious harm to themselves or others

Where Statutory Law requires disclosure

When the counsellor is subpoenaed or summoned as a witness in a Court of Law

Confidentiality is explained in more detail in the initial sessions. The Counselling Service adheres to the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy and complies with the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Counselling Service operates Monday to Thursday and we aim to offer a variety of appointment times to meet student needs (term time only). The Service does not operate an emergency system. The Counselling Service is located in the Student Support Services Department on the ground floor in the Main Building.

If you need to change or cancel your appointment, please contact our Wellbeing team on extension 4370 as soon as you can to let us know. This allows us to offer cancelled sessions to other students in need of an appointment. If you do not turn up to an appointment without letting us know first, this prevents another student from gaining the help they need quickly and increases the services waiting times.

If you do not turn up for an appointment, without letting us know, it will count as one of your allocated number of sessions. If you do not turn up on two occasions without letting us know, we will assume you no longer wish to receive counselling and offer subsequent appointments to the next person on our waiting list.